The Best Potato Leek Soup To Soothe The Soul

Our delicious potato leek soup for vegans is made super simple and with wholesome ingredients, you purée it until it is silky smooth, making it the perfect, super creamy, and nourishing soup to enjoy as a delicate light lunch or as a healthy side for your dinner!

Let us tell you all about this soup from how to make it, what you need to the origins of this soup! 

Origins Of The Recipe

This delicious soup, the divine potato leek soup, can actually be dated all the way back to 19th century France. In France, it is known as “Vichyssoise or Potage a la parmentier”. 

This soup is traditionally served cold, however, in the US, it is more common to serve it warm, which makes it super cozy! 

The traditional recipe for potato leek soup is made with chicken and cream stock, which makes it very unfriendly to vegans and vegetarians. 

With only a few minor ingredient swaps, we have managed to create a potato leek soup that is creamy but also jam-packed with plant-based yumminess!

What You Need: Ingredients List

This potato leek soup for vegans only needs 8 ingredients you can easily get your hands on. 

Let’s start off by looking at some key flavor notes to include! 

• Leeks: This is absolutely critical, afterall, it is potato leek soup! Leeks are fantastic in soup as they have a unique sweet, yet onion-y flavor that is similar to green onions. However, if you really want the flavor to be full, add in some celery!

• Potatoes:  For the richest and creamiest soup, use Yukon gold potatoes. These potatoes blend perfectly and since they are naturally high in starch, they are the perfect choice for a nice and thick soup! 

• Coconut Milk: Full-fat coconut milk is not everyone’s choice, but it is great to use if you want that richness that can really make a big difference to a dish. 

A traditional potato leek soup will often be made with a heavy cream, but for vegans coconut milk is the ideal plant-based substitute! 

• Broth: A vegan chicken-flavored broth is probably the most flavorful option, however, pretty much any vegetable broth will do fine! 

Ingredients (Your Shopping List)

• 3-4 leeks.
• 2 tbsp olive oil/vegan butter.
• 2 stalks of chopped celery.
• 3 cloves of minced garlic.
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.
• Salt and black pepper.
• 2 bay leaves.
• 4 cups of vegan ‘chicken’ flavored broth/ vegetable broth.
• 2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes chopped up.
• 1 cup of water.
• 1 13.5 oz can of full-fat coconut milk
• (Optional: croutons & chopped parsley to serve).

How Do You Make This Vegan Potato Leek Soup

It is super easy to make this delicious vegan potato leek soup, and you do not need anything other than what you likely already have in your kitchen! 

Here are the basics you should keep note of!

Saute your leeks, garlic, celery, bay leaves, tyme, and salt and pepper until the mixture of all of these is fragrant and soft. 

Stir in your potatoes as well as the coconut milk, water, and the broth until it is well combined, then bring it to a boil. Following this simmer it for around 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender enough to a fork.

Blend together your potato leek soup with an immersion blender, or a high-speed blender until you reach the desired consistency. 

Season the creamy mixture with some salt and pepper to your desire. Then Serve it warm with some croutons, chopped chives, celery leaves, or parsley. 

Step-By-Step Instructions

Now that you know the basics, we will talk you through the process step by step, just ensure you have all that you need first, such as an immersion blender and a large pot! 

1. Firstly, start off by preparing your leeks. Cut off the root ends and the dark green parts of your leeks, leave only the tender white and the light green parts there. Then, cut each leek lengthwise in half. 

Proceed to run the leeks under cool water until they are clean, and ensure that you check very carefully underneath the outer layers for any hidden dirt! Once cleaned, chop the leeks into ¼ inch pieces and prepare your other ingredients as you would for other dishes!

2. Once all of your other ingredients are prepared you can now start to saute the aromatics. First, melt the butter in a dutch oven, or a large pot over medium heat. First add in the chopped leeks with salt and pepper. 

Proceed to saute your leeks for 6 to 8 minutes, ensuring the leeks are translucent and that their volume has reduced by half. Now, add in the garlic, thyme, celery, bay leaves, and some salt and pepper. (We recommend a ½ tsp of each!)

With all these ingredients added, saute for 2 minutes until the garlic is nice and fragrant. 

3. Now that your leeks are perfect and your garlic fragrant, it is time to add the potatoes, broth, water, and coconut milk into the pot and stir well to mix them all in. You will want to increase the heat to high in order to bring the ingredients to a boil. 

Once this is done, reduce the heat to medium and maintain a good simmer for around 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender to a fork. 

4. Once your potatoes are tender enough for a fork to easily pierce them, you want to whip out that immersion blender. Use your blender to blend up the soup until it is smooth. 

However, if you do not have an immersion blender, you could also transfer the soup to a blender that is fitted with a venting lid and blend it carefully until the mixture is smooth. 

Most people would prefer their soup to be smooth, however, if you enjoy chunks in your soup, you can also leave a portion of it unblended for that texture. 

Now, season the blended mixture with salt and pepper to taste it. Note that if it is too thick for your tastes, you can thin it out with some broth or extra water! 

5. Now it is ready to serve. You can serve it warm, topped off with chopped parsley, chives, celery leaves, croutons, and so on. Whatever you wish. If you want to keep some leftovers for tomorrow, they should be kept for 5 days in the refrigerator. 

In the freezer this soup should keep for 2 months or so! 

Our Top Tips

If you are new to making soups and cooking with leeks we have some top tips for you to help you make the most out of making this soup! 

How Do You Safely Blend Soup In A Blender? 

Hot foods such as soup can expand a great deal when they are blended, which can increase the amount of pressure in your blenders’ canister.

If you do not vent the lid while you are blending then the lid can actually blow off the top of the blender! 

In order to be safe, allow the steam to vent and blend on a low setting. Do note, however, there are some blenders which are marketed as suitable for making soups, otherwise, use an immersion blender, these are much more affordable, and safer too! 

How Do You Pick Out The Best Leeks?

For those who are fairly new to cooking with leeks, we understand that the dark green portion of leeks can look super attractive. However, in spite of this it is way too dense, and way too fibrous to eat! 

Therefore, you should try to pick out the leeks which have the longest white and light green stems.

These are the parts which are tender and you can eat, the longer this part is the more bang for your buck you will get! 

How Do You Thoroughly Clean Leeks?

Leeks are actually well known for being very dirty. So, when using leeks you need to ensure that you clean them thoroughly and well.

It is recommended that you chop off the root and the green parts of the leek, so you are only left with the stem. 

With only the stem left, you should now cut this part in half. Then, you run the leek under water, gently opening up each layer, enough to check for hidden dirt, but not so aggressively that the leek falls apart. 

Suggestions For Serving

Perhaps you love the sound of this soup, and as a vegan you are overjoyed to finally see a recipe for potato and leek soup you can actually have, but you are unsure about how to serve it? 

No worries! This soup is light and creamy, which can make it an ideal lunch, or even a great side for dinner! It is best served with a side of crusty bread! 

We would suggest serving it with some crispy tofu, or roasted chickpeas if you fancy making it an entire meal, just to make it extra filling. 

Storing Vegan Potato & Leek Soup

So, you’ve made a batch of this soup? Awesome! Oh, but you made a bit too much? No problem, you can store this soup, so if you made a bit too much and want to store it for lunch later this week, you can! 

Leftovers of this potato leek soup will easily keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days, and it can even develop more flavor over this time too!

However, you can also store it in the freezer in jars as well (or any airtight container), and it will keep for 2 months! 

If you choose to freeze your soup in a glass jar, do not forget to also be mindful of the freezer line of the jar as well. If you fill the jar above this particular line, this would result in the jar breaking under the pressure. 

Remember, soup expands when it is frozen as well!

When you decide you are ready to enjoy the soup, take it out of the fridge and reheat it. If you have frozen it, you would need to let it thaw first. 

You can reheat your leftover potato leek soup in the microwave, or (the best option) in a small saucepan on the stove. If you freeze the soup, it will need to thaw in the fridge for around 1 to 2 days, then you can reheat it as usual.

Variations & Substitutions Of This Soup

Not all of these ingredients work for everyone, or at all times of year, so being aware of the variations of this soup you can make and what substitutions are viable is always a good idea! 

• Potato variations: Most prefer using Yukon gold potatoes for this recipe as they have a super smooth texture when you blend them. However, if you are not a fan of these, Russet is just fine! 

Russet potatoes will be drier, however, once blended the soup should still be just as smooth!

• Leek Substitutions: There is no great substitute for leeks really, however, if there are no leeks in season when you want to make this soup. You could use frozen leeks. 

If doing this, just add the leeks to the pot of melted butter straight from the freezer, and sauté them for an extra 3–5 minutes, ensuring all of their liquid has been evaporated. 

• Substituting Coconut milk: You can use equal parts of full-fat oat milk, or even an unsweetened vegan creamer to substitute coconut milk, as we know that it is not to everyone’s taste. 

If you are skilled in the kitchen, you could even make your very own cashew cream by blending up ¾ cup of cashews (soaked) with a single cup of water. 

• Oil-Free Variations: If you want to avoid oils, then you can sauté the aromatics of the recipe in a splash of water or a broth instead! 

The Recipe! 

All you need to know about the recipe is right here! 

Ingredients

• 3-4 leeks well cleaned/ or frozen leeks if out of season. 
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil/ vegan butter (Can be substituted for broth).
• 2 stalks of celery chopped well.
• 3 cloves of garlic minced well (You can add more).
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.
• 2 bay leaves.
• Salt and black pepper (added as you please).
• 2 lbs potatoes chopped up (Yukon are best, but can use other potatoes).
• 4 cups of broth (vegan chicken flavor or vegetable broth will work).
• 1 cup of water.
•  1 13.5 oz full fat coconut milk/ full-fat oat milk/ vegan creamer. 

The Recipe Itself

Prepare your leeks first, ensuring they are completely cleaned (this is very important, as dirt, bacteria, and even small bugs can hide between the leaves). Then chop and prep the rest of your ingredients. 

Chop the celery, mince the garlic, chop the potatoes, and prepare the broth, all before you start cooking. 

Sauté your aromatics first, starting with your butter/olive oil/ broth in the pan with the leeks, then once cooked add in your aromatics such as the garlic, celery, thyme and bay leaves. 

Once fragrant and tender, add in your potatoes as well as the liquids, and bring to boil, before simmering for ¼ an hour until the potatoes are tender. 

Then, blend the soup until it is smooth with an immersion blender, vented normal blender, or a soup-friendly high-quality blender. 

Once completed, serve warm with toppings such as croutons, celery leaves, and so on. Store as you wish.

Notes

Aside from the importance of properly cleaning celery, coconut milk is also an important consideration. There is no overpowering coconut taste that comes from this recipe after you have simmered the ingredients. 

However, if you really do not like coconut milk, there are plenty of substitutions you can make. But, we really recommend trying to make your own cashew cream, using a ¾ cup of soaked cashews with 1 cup of water. 

Doing so works great for this recipe, but will also be beneficial for the future too! 

Nutritional Values 

• Calories: 248 kcal
• Fats: 15 g
• Monounsaturated fats: 3 g
• Fiber: 3 g
• Vitamin C: 28 mg 
• Carbohydrates: 28 g
• Saturated fats: 10 g
• Sodium: 493 mg
• Sugar: 3g
• Calcium: 48 mg
• Protein Polyunsaturated fat: 1 g
• Potassium: 660 mg
• Vitamin A:833 IU
• Iron: 3 mg

Overall

This potato leek soup is a dreamy concoction that allows vegans who love creamy veggie soups to enjoy a warming French classic in the easiest way possible. It is non-complex, and allows anyone to try it out. 

Why don’t you give it a try today?

Frequently Asked Questions